WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — The FBI is concerned about the possibility of an organized attack in the U.S. similar to the one that killed scores of people at a Russian concert hall last month, the bureau’s director told a House of Representatives panel Thursday.
“As I look back over my career in law enforcement, I would be hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once,” Christopher Wray told lawmakers at a budget hearing Thursday.
“But that is the case as I sit here today.”
The March 22 attack in a Moscow suburb killed at least 144 people, the deadliest such attack in Russia in 20 years. A branch of the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility, but Russian President Vladimir Putin, without citing evidence, has sought to blame Ukraine.
Former CIA agent Tracy Walder tells NewsNation that between the Israel-Hamas war and the recent attack in Russia, Americans may have a reason to be concerned.
“I was sitting in the counterterrorism center at CIA headquarters before, during and after September 11, and I have never seen this heightened of rhetoric and this heightened of a geopolitical situation as I do now,” Walder said.
Wray on Thursday cited the FBI’s concerns about terrorism to help persuade lawmakers to boost funding for the FBI, though he is likely to face strong pushback from congressional Republicans.
“(U.S. intelligence agencies) are essentially flying blind in terms of tracking terrorism because the reality is terrorism exists now mostly digitally,” said Walder. “That is how we are tracking it more so than in our human sources.”
Reuters contributed to this story.